Over the summer, general manager Brian MacLellan gave TJ Oshiean eight-year, $46 million extension that would keep the forward in DC until 2025. After scoring 26 times during the 2015-16 season, Oshie tied Alex Ovechkin for the team lead in goals (33) in 2016-17, setting a new personal career high. This season, however, after a strong start on the power play (7 PPG in his first 21 games), Oshie has seen his production drop.

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The goal was Oshie’s eighth PPG of the season, which puts him one shy of Alex Ovechkin for the team lead. The extra-man marker was Oshie’s first since a November 18 game against the Minnesota Wild.

To celebrate, Oshie raised his hands high into the air, seemingly letting out weeks of frustration.

On the bench, Oshie’s teammates were proud he was finally off the schneid.

“Pretty nice, pretty relieving getting that goal,” Oshie said after the game. “Hopefully the flood gates will open up for me here.

“It was a great play by Kuzy to get it to me in the spot on the power play there,” Oshie continued. “That’s pretty much it. I had a couple other chances in front of the net. That one I practice it enough. Usually those ones should go in.”

Oshie also admitted that his celly had some emotion in it.

“That was a little dramatic,” Oshie said. “I actually thought about that like ten games ago that I was going to do that, and then ten games later I finally got the chance. You want to be able to help the team and sometimes you need a little confirmation by putting one on the back of the net and I think that’s what happened for me tonight.”

“I was happy for Andre. I was happy for Osh,” Barry Trotz said. “It’s been awhile.”

While many fans surmise that Oshie’s lack of production is due to the fact he’s been playing hurt or not quite the same after his last concussion, the underlying numbers suggest something different. The Caps forward’s play hasn’t shown a regression from before or after the concussion; it’s been nearly the same.

“I’ve been working on my game a little bit, doing different things here and there,” Oshie said. “When you’re struggling a little bit to puck in the net, you do things a little bit different. I had three different tape jobs, a couple different lengths of my sticks. I was doing everything.”